


Thicker than blood

by LivingInABox



Series: Cam not-so-evil Bradley [1]
Category: Power Rangers Ninja Storm
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Crack Treated Seriously, Evil Cam Watanabe, Fluff, Hunter is a Dork, Implied Sexual Content, M/M, Self-Indulgent, but only slightly - Freeform, some Tori/Blake
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-12
Updated: 2020-04-12
Packaged: 2021-03-01 20:26:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 16,359
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23603050
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LivingInABox/pseuds/LivingInABox
Summary: Where everything is mostly the same, except for the fact that Cam is evil and on Lothor’s side.Or: Hunter has a bad guy kink, and can’t deny it.--Blake should have said, ‘no Hunter, it’s a bad idea to fall in love with our evil boss’s nephew even if he did look really hot and give you bedroom eyes.’
Relationships: Hunter Bradley/Cameron Watanabe
Series: Cam not-so-evil Bradley [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1863808
Comments: 18
Kudos: 43





	1. First

**Author's Note:**

> Oops guys, I made a fic for a dead fandom bc somehow I've been reminiscing about childhood and fallen into a dark pit of power rangers/super sentai hell hole where there is no new content. 
> 
> Heavily self-indulgent bc I couldn’t write a proper serious story with a cohesive plot, sorry, so i just wrote HunterCam nonsense. Five days and I churned out this thing, I didn't sleep last night and wrote for twelve hours, sorry if there are mistakes.
> 
> Imagine the year is 2010 and you're watching a fmv with Cascada’s Bad Boy as the music. Life is simple and easy. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kq7_6zVrGgY 
> 
> Inspired by Born Under A Bad Sign by DancingWithPeacocks, who came up with the original idea for evil Cam in their story on ff.net, and I wanted to read more so I made my own. Also inspired by wonderful HunterCam content makers like PunkPinkPower, Starhawk/Starandrea, Spoodle Monkey, MzDany, transient.thought, and more! 
> 
> If you find this, please let me hear your thought, since the fandom is so small, it’s lonely ;-; 
> 
> Anyway enjoy!

Hunter hadn’t meant to fall in love with an evil supervillain, he really hadn’t. Especially if said supervillain was working for their arch nemesis, Lothor, who was actively trying to destroy the Rangers, and the world for goodness sake.

He blamed it on his temporary lapse of judgement during the time he and Blake went evil, and he blamed Blake, because his brother should have stopped him since the get go. Blake should have said, ‘no Hunter, it’s a bad idea to fall in love with our evil boss’s nephew even if he did look really hot and give you bedroom eyes.’ 

Cam really did give Hunter’s bedroom eyes, so in a way, this was as much of his fault as it was Hunter’s. How can a mere mortal like him resist Cam’s all leather ninja get up with dual swords strapping behind his belt.

It wasn't just possible to look away when Cam was striking and brought a chilling presence to the room, covering in black entirely except for the stark red centipede adorning his shoulder plate, reminding Hunter of which side he belonged to constantly. Not to mention, Cam with his weapon in hand was quick and efficient and he could whip Lothor’s big bad generals around with ease. And if that wasn’t hot and dangerous (to his libido) then Hunter didn’t know what else would be.

Cam was cool face and smoldering fire as he swept his eyes on Hunter’s form, where the Ranger suit clung tight to every curve of his body, and he made Hunter burn crimson _under_ his visor. It was fortunate that he had practiced his evil Rangers voice or otherwise, his conversation with Lothor would have been interrupted by a very unmanly squeak. That wouldn’t have been good for anybody. 

He was going to ignore Cam’s very blatant attempt to undress him with his eyes, he really was going to. But Cam stopped Hunter and Blake just as they were leaving Lothor’s ship, leaning casually on a pillar, and sticking out his hand to halt Hunter, palm pressing into Hunter’s beating heart. If the subtle stare he gave Cam earlier didn’t give him away, then his heart surely would have.

“Going somewhere?” Cam’s voice was smooth, a tad arrogant, but that was probably due to his upbringing. It played into his pompous, badass villain image. Hunter liked it.

Hunter had considered the consequences seriously for one long second, before he demorphed in a blink and pushed into Cam’s space, leaning his hand on the spot beside Cam’s head. “Nowhere special.” His lips disobeyed him and lifted to form an amused smirk.

Blake just looked at them both, and tossed his hands up in the air. “Oh seriously, man? Him? Him, really? I’m out of here.” But Hunter had ignored him. So did Cam because he only gripped onto Hunter’s top, and pulled him toward a direction that wasn’t the exit.

“I can change that.” Cam grinned, beautiful, boyish, full of promises, and drew Hunter’s eyes to lips that must have been soft, and made Hunter want to bite them. And he did. 

Well, what happened after was history, very good history, because Cam looked as amazing outside of his leather as he was in it. He was pale skin, wiry muscles, but possessed a strength equal to Hunter’s. He was fervent and confident, took what he wanted, and gave just as hard, and Hunter didn’t mean to fall, because this was just supposed to be fun. Fun, stress relieving mind blowing sex in the middle of their revenge plan for their parents, fun. Until it happened again. And again. And again. 

Until Hunter got brainwashed by Choobo, almost killed his little brother, met his parents' ghost, realized he was a fucking fool for trusting Lothor, questioned his entire existence and purpose before decided to join the Wind Ninja, not exactly in that order.

See, Hunter still hasn't worked out where Cam fit into the whole thing of Lothor killing his parents. But Cam must have been a child then, he surely didn't have anything to do with that heinous plot. Anyway, things were so hectic that he didn’t think about his thing with Cam until Blake gossiped about his love life to the other while they were in Storm Chargers.

“No, man, Hunter is definitely not interested in her,” Blake scoffed, shaking his head like he knew so much more than them.

Her being the brunette chatting Hunter up while pretending to ask more about motocross gear for her brother. A customer, someone who Hunter can’t be rude to.

“His type is more… older and stronger.”

“What? You’re like the expert on romance now?” Tori gave him a look, full of implications that Blake was anything but an expert. Otherwise, she and him would have been going at it for weeks already. And that wasn’t a can of worms Hunter would open for his brother. 

“Yeah dude, can’t you see that chemistry, that’s a love blossoming right there!” Shane cackled, slapping Dustin on the arm. Hunter wanted to punch them. He also wanted them to come save him, but glaring at them wasn’t getting the message across. Even sweet Tori ignored his plea. 

“Bet you five bucks,” Dustin chimed in.

“You’re on, dude.” Hunter heard their slapping handshake sounding like betrayal.

And Hunter gave up. No one was going to save him from a hair twirling, dimpled smile female specimen that had all the wrong parts. He was tempted to give her Blake’s Nokia number just to get rid of her, but he wasn’t going to do his bro like that. At least one of them had to be the cool brother. 

When the brunette stepped closer and her fingers began to fiddle with the zipper of his jacket, Hunter’s savior swooped in like prince charming rescuing damsel in distress with a hand on his back and a smile so sharp it could cut the zords in half.

“Hey babe,” Cam said, and Hunter’s heart flat lined before slamming erratically in his chest. Jesus, spoke of the devil and the devil appeared. “Who is this?”

The wind ninjas were whooping and hollering in the back from the new development. There were some remarks by Dustin and Shane about how Blake was blatantly cheating, but Hunter could only focus on his err--many-nightstands-supervillain-sweetheart.

It had been days since they saw each other. Days since Hunter switched alliances, since he had Cam close enough to smell minty cologne and feel the solid weight of his body. It made Hunter spacey and took the words from his mouth.

“Uhh,” Hunter gaped like an idiot. “Uhh I’m helping her with some motocross stuff, what are you doing here?” 

“To see you, of course, silly.” Cam smiled again, but this was his ‘Zurgane, your stupidity is appalling, and if you interrupt me once more, I will turn you into a puddle of melted goo,’ smile. “We have a date.”

“W-we do?” Fingers pinched his waist, so Hunter quickly amended, “Yeah-yeah, we do, sorry to make you wait.” Then he turned to the girl with an apologetic smile that was purely customer service, and not an ounce of sincerity. “I’m actually getting off now, but let me know how those gear work for your brother.”

She nodded, incredibly put off now that another player has entered the game. She didn’t seem to be convinced, however, that Hunter had a date with this random _guy_ and was trying to stare down Cam with an unimpressive look. 

Before Cam can cause mayhem, Hunter hooked an arm around his shoulders and steered them both to the store room in the back, bypassing his friends who were exchanging money and more gossip.

“Who does she think she is?” Cam huffed and brushed Hunter’s arm off of him, crossing his arms with a frown. “Touching you all over like that.”

Hunter finally got a chance to take in Cam’s appearance fully and it brought a dopey smile to his face.

Cam was wearing a baggy green Hawaiian shirt with obnoxious red macaws and khaki Chubbies shorts that showed off his legs nicely. Atop of his nose was a pair of thin square glasses, and it made him look like a nerdy TV show character, but normal, and not at all like Lothor’s evil underling. Hunter dig the bad boy leather, but this, this was good, too.

“And you, how can you stand there and let her hang onto you?” Cam shoved at his arm, but Hunter kept on grinning like a dunce. “Did you like having her clinging on you that much? Maybe I should call her back and let you two have at it--and stop smiling, you buffoon!” 

“You’re jealous,” Hunter commented with a sing-songy voice. “You’re so jealous.” He jabbed a finger on Cam’s chest and leaned down near his face. And Cam’s frown cooled down to an expressionless dead eyes stare that was usually reserved for his cousins and Lothor’s goons when he wasn’t amused, and that was just a bit unnerving. Hunter hated when Cam did that. So he backed away and shoved his hands into his jeans’ back pockets.

“Never mind, what are you doing here?” 

“What am I doing here? You don’t come by, you don’t send me messages, you don’t call, you don’t anything, then I found out Choobo went and did stuff to your head, and you asked me what I’m doing here?” Cam hissed, his annoyance from earlier turned into anger that came out of nowhere. 

And suddenly Hunter got it. “You’re worried?” A warm rush coursed through his body and heated his cheeks. 

“Of course I worry, you jerk!” Cam glared but he didn’t protest when Hunter grabbed hold of his cheeks with callused hands and pressed a smooch on his lips, chaste and impulsive and full of enthusiasm. Then he let Hunter pull him into a hug and leaned his head on Hunter’s shoulder. No matter how much he denied it, Cam was a cuddler.

“Thanks for worrying, I’m good now. And I can’t call or message you, you live on a spaceship, dude. Can’t exactly come by also because if you haven’t noticed, your uncle and I aren’t buddy-buddy anymore, but I missed you,” Hunter crooned into Cam’s ear, kissing it and tightened his arms around Cam, relished in his weight and warmth.

Cam cared enough to get jealous, to worry, and maybe he didn’t love Hunter, but he’d cared, and in Hunter’s book, that was more than anything Cam ever gave to anyone else. It made him feel special and giddy in a way that was too embarrassing to tell anyone.

“Ugh, remind me to hack into the Rangers comm, that morpher of yours will finally be useful.”

“Uhh, how about you not do that? I don’t think my friends will be too happy when you manage it.” When, not if, because Hunter knew for sure Cam would be able to do it.

“Well you need to find better friends because they are currently spying on us not so subtly by the door, make them go away so we can make out.” 

Hunter detected a whiny undertone, but he had enough self-preservation to not say ‘cute’ out loud. Reluctantly, he pried away from Cam’s hold, hands trailing down Cam’s arms to hook onto his fingers, face apologetic. 

“Tempting, but I actually got work still,” he said. “If you hang around until later, maybe I’ll take you back to my place and have my way with you.”

“Only maybe?” Cam edged on, brows furrowed.

“I guess you have to stay and find out.” With one last lingering kiss that garnered some wolf whistle--Shane, that birdbrain--Hunter drew away and turned exasperatedly to the group of ninja by the door, who was still so gung-ho over the appearance of his mysterious boyfriend (boyfriend!)

“So Hunter, something you want to tell us?” Shane waggled his eyebrows as Hunter yanked the door wide open. 

“Bro, you made me lose five bucks to Blake, who clearly had insider information,” Dustin said.

Tori heaved out a long suffering sigh before extending her hand to Cam with a big smile. “Ignore them, hi, I’m Tori.” 

Hunter could see Cam hesitating, probably finding the entire encounter hella weird as they just fought each other the other day. But before he could cut in to prevent things from becoming awkward, Cam put on a shy smile that was so out of character Hunter had to do a double take, and took her hand.

“Hi, sorry you had to see that.” Who was this and what did he do with the real Cam, who lived by the motto no regret, no apology? Who once played footsie with Hunter during big bad villains meetings, and kissed Hunter in front of his cousins because they were making a pass at the Thunder brothers, where was that Cam? 

Blake was rubbing his temple, clearly in the same predicament as Hunter. 

“Um, yeah, guys, this is Cam, he’s uhh--” 

“I’m a computer science grad student at Blue Bay Harbor University.” Cam was still smiling that normal human smile at Tori. 

“Oh nice dude, I do some code work as well!” Dustin took his turn. “I’m Dustin.” 

“I’m Shane, good to meet you, man,” Shane said, doing a bro shake with Cam. Bizarre. “You know, you look kinda familiar, have we met before?” 

Blake let out a pained groan that matched quite well with what Hunter was feeling inside.

Cam looked different in glasses, but he really didn’t look _that_ different. Maybe it was the whole leather and swords thing.

As Tori dragged Cam over to the lounge to chat with the group, Blake hung back for a moment to stare at Hunter pitifully. 

“Dude, you are playing with fire,” he said. And Hunter couldn’t agree more.

Hunter hadn’t meant to fall in love with an evil supervillain, he really hadn’t. But if it was Cam, then maybe it was okay. Because Cam wasn’t that evil anyway despite his habit of beating up kelzaks when he was bored, and his love for bullying Choobo and Zurgane. He may built weapons and tech for Lothor and fought the rangers on a monthly basis, but he had never hurt a civilian. And he liked Hunter. 

So Hunter watched Cam’s face as it transformed from his fake student persona’s smile to a real amused grin that was his Cam, and thought that that had to be enough. 


	2. Second

Everybody on the ship heard about the Choobo-Crimson incident a while back, where the Master’s nephew took Choobo to his famed weapon lab for two days straight, and when the green alien returned, tattered and injured, he only muttered one phrase when anyone asked what had happened: “I must not harm the Crimson Ranger,” spoken in a trance-like manner, monotone and repeatedly.

Well, they all knew how the nephew was when it came to his playthings, possessive and protective and wasn't afraid of using everything at his disposal to make life hell for some unfortunate soul on the ship. From generals to kelzaks, everybody got the memo quite clearly, even the Master. Don't hurt the Crimson Ranger or risk facing the nephew’s fearsome wrath. It made ninja fighting a whole new experience.

That was just to say when Madtropolis attacked the Rangers and took their power, the Crimson one was unaffected and confused as his brother and friends suddenly became sluggish and powerless.

While watching the battle, Lothor only rolled his eyes at Cam and said, “You can’t go around ordering my alien to play favorite.”

“It’s just one of him, I thought your alien could handle that much.” Cam rolled his eyes right back at his uncle, and well, Lothor couldn't say anything against that.

Cam wasn't worried. He made damn sure Madtropolis wouldn't touch a hair on Hunter’s head, and well, the rest were power rangers, they could figure something out, it wasn't Cam’s problem. He had a new project to focus on in the form of a time travel machine.

The time transporter took ideas from their teleportation tech while employing a similar construction found in the Time Force Rangers’ broken time ship. The ship was retrieved, but Cam just happened to stumble on a leftover piece by accident, jump starting his most ambitious project yet.

He had been monitoring the earth’s fluctuations of energy, looking for something to power his machine, and Blue Bay Harbor didn't let him down. Near the forest that used to harbor the now destroyed Wind Academy was a foreign energy spike that Cam had never seen before, but it was powerful and stable enough for his purpose.

With an excited grin, Cam stepped onto the machine’s platform, and wasted no time channeling the power to his transporter, then finally smashed the enter key, engulfing his surroundings in white, and he felt his body unraveling to tiny particles.

If this experiment failed, then at least Cam had activated his backup plan.

\--

Cam stumbled onto dirt because the world was spinning in streaks of green and brown, and he was woozy and nauseous. There was a hand catching him before his next blunder and held him up securely while a muffled voice buzzed around his ears. In the back of his mind, Cam made a note of all the side effects.

“Cam, snap out of it, can you hear me?” This was a familiar voice.

Cam shook his head to get rid of the last bit of his vertigo before turning to face someone who looked like Hunter, and he had concern etched onto every line of his features, the exact same way as Cam’s Hunter. He was wearing the same Thunder ninja uniform as well. Either Cam’s machine fucked up spectacularly or somehow Hunter was actually here with him, in the past in some year, somewhere.

“Hunter?”

Hunter’s face blossomed into a relieved smile as he patted Cam’s chest. “Hey, you good there? You were scaring me.”

Cam narrowed his eyes. Looked like his Hunter, felt like his Hunter, but Cam’s overly paranoid upbringing had him ask anyway. “What’s my full name and how many computer monitors do I have?”

“Trick question, it’s just Cam, and twenty seven, and yes I still think that is an obnoxious and unnecessary amount of screens, and it’s a wonder how you don’t actually have prescription glasses.” Hunter rolled his eyes.

“Hunter!” At the answer, Cam pressed his lips to Hunter’s cheek, which was very near his face and was just asking to be smooch. “Anyway, any idea where we are?”

“Well--” His answer was cut off as another presence surfaced before them, putting Cam and Hunter back to back as they raised their guard.

The next moment was a flurry of punch, block and kick, and belatedly Cam realized that he’d left his swords at home. The only weapon he carried was in the silver ring around his index finger, and with a flick of his hand, it transformed into a short blade, a kunai that was sharp and bright as it was made from pure energy--his own life force energy to be specific.

“That’s a forbidden ninja art, how did you learn it?!” Their attacker growled and bore down on them with harsher force and wilder swings.

The man had clearly decided Cam to be the bigger threat and focused his strike toward Cam, but Hunter, handsome and full of brute force, matched him blow for blow and synced so well with Cam’s slashes and stabs. They’ve seen plenty of each other on the battlefield, and it made perfect sense that they could link their fighting style so smoothly. If Hunter wasn’t a Ranger, he and Cam could make quite a formidable pair within Lothor’s army.

“Enough!” Another voice interrupted, and a man, who mirrored Kanoi Watanabe before he was turned into a guinea pig, stood on the water in front of them. The three of them paused in their fighting stances.

Immediately, Cam understood where they were. He glanced at Hunter, and his boyfriend (boyfriend!) didn’t look surprised, so he must have known somehow. As their attacker discarded his head piece, Cam’s eyes widened and he gaped at the face behind the mask.

The sensei called this man Kanoi, but Cam knew with certainty that that face belonged to his uncle from his younger days. Hunter and Cam were in the past at the Wind Academy, but the thing that shattered Cam’s practiced indifferent mask was the fact that Kanoi and his uncle were twins. He knew Lothor had only one brother, an estranged deadbeat who stowed Cam away to Lothor when he was younger, according to his uncle’s verbatim words, and that must be Kanoi.

Oh god. Kanoi Watanabe was his father.

Years of monologuing his revenge on a Wind ninja, and Lothor somehow managed to not mention that it was his twin brother, that it was Cam’s father whom he had beef with?

Cam was detached from his body and mind as he mulled over this new knowledge, and the only thing that kept him anchored was Hunter’s grip on his arm, leading him into the academy.

Well, fuck.

\--

On a normal day, Cam would have made fun of their situation, to think Lothor’s nephew was enrolling as a student in the Wind Academy, what a joke. But this wasn’t a normal day because Cam had just received the biggest bombshell of his life, and he spent twenty years in space, that wasn’t a light statement to make.

“What’s wrong with you?” Hunter whispered as they made ways to the assembly, both clad in white ninja uniforms. He ditched the ninja mask that Cam was refusing to part with, letting his messy blond head stick out like a sore thumb in the midst of black hair.

“You know how you got a midlife crisis last month after almost killing Blake and finding out my uncle killed your parents, the whole shebang?”

Hunter grimaced at the reminder, but nodded anyway.

“Let’s just say I’m feeling something similar.”

“Yikes man, can I do anything?” Hunter stopped them before they joined the crowd, hanging back for another moment of privacy. His brows scrunched up adorably, and Cam wanted to kiss it. He patted Hunter’s cheek instead.

“Not really, just don’t let me reveal myself, I can’t be seen here.” Cam signaled to his covered face.

“Sure, you got it,” Hunter said before they fell into place. That no question, no hesitation attitude was what drew Cam to Hunter in the first place. Having him here almost made this ‘successful experiment went wrong in a blink, what happened next will shock you’ experience bearable.

Or Cam spoke too soon. He didn’t know who his father was until now, but his uncle threw around the name Miko various times before when he fought with the ex-wife. Surprise, surprise, Miko was here and she just wiped the floor with Kanoi’s arrogant ass. The man looked shocked and mildly awestruck. If that wasn’t his mother, Cam would bite his tongue and break up with Hunter.

What was this, a parent-guardian meet-up or something? And then Hunter had to go and ogle his mom’s chest. He even got the gall to flirt with her about her sword skill. Cam might just break up with him either way.

\--

Academy students back in the day were residential, and each was allotted a single tent for their living space. Cam and Hunter’s quarters were next to one another, and it wasn’t hard for Hunter to come over, but there was almost no privacy with the thin screen, so before Hunter say anything, Cam dragged him to the wood, shoving him at a tree with an arm pressing to Hunter’s neck to trap him where Cam wanted him.

“Why were you hitting on my mother, and how dare you do it in front of me, too, you jerk,” Cam snarled. Hunter’s mouth dropped open at his words.

“Your mother?! What?!” Hunter gasped. Okay, so there was no way he could have known, Cam was a bit unfair for getting angry over that. “And I didn’t flirt with her, I was making conversation!”

“You were leering at her chest, you nimwit.”

“Her necklace! I was looking at her necklace!” Hunter pinched the bridge of his nose. “Okay, so obviously we are on totally different pages, calm down, and let’s talk like rational people, okay,” he said, easing Cam’s choke from his windpipe and tugged Cam over to sit on a fallen tree.

“You first,” Cam harrumphed.

“Fine. You must have seen the battle with Madtropolis? For some reason, I’m the only with power left, and Sensei used the Scroll of Time to send me here to look for ‘a mystical power’ that could help us defeat your new alien, and your mom-- dude I’m still confused about that-- well, there was something about Miko’s necklace-- I swear I wasn’t flirting! Your jealousy freak out is only cute the first time around.”

“I’m not jealous! I just have a lot on my mind, and you are infuriating!” Cam hissed.

Instead of getting angry back, Hunter just scooted closer and placed a hand on his thigh. “Yeah, I know, you still haven’t told me what’s wrong.” His thumb did a little caress, placating Cam’s temper effortlessly.

Cam sighed loudly, forcing himself back into the ‘calm, cool, collected villain’ mindset.

“I experimented with a time machine, and must have channeled some of the Scroll’s energy when it was activated, and here I am now. With you.” Hunter blinked like a deer in the headlight as Cam explained.

“You made a time machine?” Hunter gawked. “You used yourself as a test subject?!”

Okay, in hindsight, it wasn’t the best idea, but real scientists had to be a little bit crazy, sue him. Cam didn’t bother answering him.

“And by accident, I found out the identity of my parents, who abandoned me when I was younger, and my dear uncle withheld important information from me for twenty years, so excuse me for getting a little bit emotional.”

“Woah, what, your parents abandoned you?” Hunter turned fully to face Cam, distressed on his behalf, making it harder for Cam to stay angry at him.

“It doesn’t matter, I don’t want to talk about it anymore.” Cam sniffed.

“Is that why you have to hide your face?”

“Something like that.”

Time travel was a messy thing, Cam didn’t want his uncle to recognize him. (On a side thought, Kiya was totally a better name than Lothor, what was his uncle thinking?) His family origin aside, he didn’t want to have to deal with it back in the present. So people can pry the ninja mask from him over his dead body.

After a quiet moment, Hunter knocked their legs together to jar Cam out of his thoughts. “Does this count as our first fight? Can we have make up sex now?” He grinned shamelessly, and it was infectious, putting a similar expression on Cam’s face. The nerve this man had.

Cam shoved him again, this time harder and pushed Hunter onto his back, climbing up to straddle his hips. “Well, I don’t know about makeup sex, but you look terrible in white.” He trailed his hands on Hunter’s chest. “As your boyfriend, I’m obligated to take these hideous clothes off of you.”

Hunter laughed, deep and rumbling, sending dangerous tremors straight to Cam’s heart as he pulled Cam down to connect their mouths.


	3. Third

Hunter learnt two things from this experience: Cam’s stamina was endless, and tree sex wasn't as pain-free as he imagined. He couldn't spare any brain cell during the deed, but Hunter’s back ached and his bottom must be bruised now. As he trailed behind Cam on their way back, he shuffled his uniform and hoped people didn't see any sign of their debauchery. But that was the least of his worries as Miko ran to them, face twisted in ugly accusation.

One moment, he was admiring Cam’s backside, the next, ninja students manhandled them to the training ground and kicked their knees from under them, forcing Cam and Hunter down painfully.

Cam shook their hands off with a growl. When a ninja attempted to remove his head gear, Cam lashed out and wrenched his wrist, before he could toss the ninja to the dirt and make things worse, Hunter grabbed a hold of him and hissed, “Stop!” It had gotten him a glare, but Cam released his death grip on the ninja.

“He’s conscious about a scar on his face, Sensei, please permit him to keep it.” Hunter then turned to the head Sensei with a head bow. The only thing Hunter could think of was that someone saw them in the forest. Frown upon as it may have been during this time, but there was no way having sex with a consensual partner violated any ninja code. It was quite embarrassing to be caught though.

The sensei wore an unreadable expression as he waved the air ninja away, and addressed them, “You are accused of stealing from a fellow student, do you have anything to say?” Oh, thank god, Hunter really didn’t have an exhibition kink.

“We didn’t steal anything,” Cam said, but he was speaking to Miko, who was wringing her fingers anxiously. Hunter could see that she didn’t want to believe it either, but Miko had given chase, and they were at the end of it. That was that. But it didn’t feel any less than a betrayal.

“We didn’t steal anything,” Hunter repeated to the teacher before he also turned to Miko. “I wouldn’t do this to you, Miko.” He knew what the necklace meant for her. Whether it was the power source he was looking for or not, he wouldn’t have stolen it.

Her frown deepened as she avoided his eyes.

“There were several eyewitnesses who saw you committed the crime, and the evidence is irrefutable.” At this, Cam scoffed and shared a commiserating look with Hunter, because the only irrefutable things were Hunter’s sore calves and questionable stains in his undergarment, but Hunter was damn sure no one saw that. “I will now pass judgement, you are--”

“Not guilty!”

Kanoi and Kiya appeared, and what came after that was a shitshow.

Just as they had fought Kanoi when they arrived, Hunter and Cam now tag-teamed against Kiya, who was an overpowering force with his dark ninja energy as he subdued everyone. The third time Hunter nosedived to the ground painfully, he wondered why Cam didn’t have evil ninja power of his own. Then Cam caught the amulet, and Kiya erected a force field around the two of them.

Hunter watched on restlessly, feeling helpless as the earth ninja picked up a wooden sword, and the only comfort he had was that sword was Cam’s expertise. His evil supervillain boyfriend wasn't going to lose to his Sensei’s evil twin, no way. Miko and Kanoi stood behind him, offering what little support they could. Despite being a younger, inexperienced version of his Sensei, Kanoi’s presence at Hunter’s back was reassuring.

Cam struck and parried, unhurried even amidst the blowing wind, then side stepped Kiya’s strike and pushed sword against sword without responding to Kiya’s jeer. He was efficient with no wasted movement, graceful in form as always, but there was a hesitation to his attack like he pulled back just a tad before he could really hurt Kiya, and it drove Hunter crazy as Kiya took that as an opportunity to throw Cam to the mat, sword raised high.

Then the courtyard exploded in green light.

When Kiya declared his name as Lothor, all the pieces fell together. Kanoi. Twins. Kiya. Lothor. Miko. And Cam. Hunter understood all at once Cam’s tantrum, why he was holding back, why he looked at Miko and her amulet in doubt, why as soon as the barrier dropped, he had stuck to Hunter’s side and refused to watch Kiya’s judgement.

To Hunter, this was just another mission, important, but impersonal. To Cam, it was his history, and it changed everything he ever knew. Hunter had his brother, his friends when the mess with Choobo happened. Cam only had Hunter.

Before he could talk to Cam about this shocking revelation, the Scroll tugged in his uniform glowed yellow. He was out of time.

“Cam, how are you getting back?” Hunter released the parchment to let it expand into a billowing portal, then turned to grip tightly on Cam’s arm as wind and energy whirled around them.

“I don’t know,” Cam replied, but Hunter didn’t think he was really listening, he was staring at the amulet still. So Hunter wasted no time dragging Cam toward the shining gateway.

“Then let’s go, come on, we gotta go, now!”

“But Miko’s amulet!”

“It’s yours now, Cam, you’re the rightful owner,” Miko said from beside Kanoi, and dredged up a small smile.

“I-I still have so many things to say to you two,” Cam said, lingering, and no matter what contempt he might have held toward his parents, Hunter knew he didn’t want to leave, but they had no other choice.

He wrapped his arm around Cam’s waist, and hauled them both back to the present just as the Scroll snapped shut.

\--

When time unfroze and the wind ninja was teleported back to the battlefield, the sound of a helicopter cut through the air, and the Green Samurai Ranger appeared. On the ground, Hunter Bradley joined his friends, and steered them away from the fight.

In space, Lothor slammed his fist onto the monitor with irritation. “Another one?”

Stepping out from behind him, his nephew pointed out cheekily.

“See, it’s not me playing favorites that ruin your evil plot, okay? The Rangers just have exceptionally good luck.”

Cam received a glare for that, but Lothor didn’t seem to pay him any more attention and called for the girls. If he had scrutinized a little bit closer, he would have seen an odd flicker of static on his nephew’s form as the boy retreated from the control room.

This was the backup plan. CyberCam 2.0. Supervillain edition.

\--

“Okay, is it just me or is there a dude in Green Ranger gear in front of us?” Dustin, who was draped on Hunter’s shoulder, asked weakly, eyes blinking rapidly like he thought he was hallucinating.

“Dude, I see him, too.” Shane shook his head.

“Hunter.” Blake, who was holding onto Tori, stared at Hunter warily, and he was using his ‘mom’ voice that was usually reserved for when Hunter had done something incredibly stupid. For someone who was as clueless as the rest of the ninja, he had a really good instinct. “If you’re here, then who is that?”

“Uhh, no time to explain, we gotta get back to Ninja Ops, now,” Hunter dodged, and he had to raise his eyebrows at the Green Samurai before said new addition exasperatedly stomped over to help hauling the group back to base.

There must be a rule somewhere that said, you shall not enter a secret relationship with the nephew of your enemy and invite him back to your base of operation even if you were in love with him and he had Rangers power. There must be. And Hunter definitely broke it.

It didn’t take six Rangers to destroy Madtropolis’s container and return the ninja their power. It only took five rangers and an evil supervillain with a complicated past.

Either way, Hunter didn’t complete his assigned mission, brought his boyfriend to Ninja Ops, managed to lose the mystical amulet to the other side, and had no explanation to appease the horde of curious ninja, poking at the mysterious and silent Green Samurai. All in a day of work.

Sensei Kanoi, no longer in his young human form and looked so much more like himself, inclined his tiny head at Hunter and halted the clamoring wind ninja with a simple command, “Quiet.” The group shut up automatically. Then Sensei turned to Cam. Living up to his reputation as an all knowing ninja master, he knew exactly who stood before him. Cam knew that as well.

Hunter would have stepped in to shield Cam from any accusation, but Sensei didn’t say anything and neither did Cam as they both refused to break eye contact. He longed to see under the helmet, what face Cam was making because he couldn't read anything beyond tense shoulders and clenched fists. But then again, this was a family matter, and he wasn’t sure where the boundary was.

“I apologize for not knowing, I really didn’t know.” Sensei Kanoi broke the tense atmosphere. “You must have suffered this entire time, I’m sorry.”

For a moment, Hunter thought Cam was going to draw his sword in response, and he poised ready to intercept. But Cam only growled, his normal voice was distorted coming out of his helmet for the first time.

“Suffered? _He_ clothed me, he fed me, he tugged me to bed, while _you_ did nothing for two decades. You have no right to say anything.”

The ninja gasped at the hostile words directed at their Sensei, but Hunter didn’t let them interrupted. He shook his head at their troubled frowns. This wasn’t their business.

“You are right.” As a guinea pig, there wasn’t much expression on Sensei’s face, but his voice was resigned and so sad. “I thank you for your help today in aiding the Rangers, I hope you know that I’m proud of you.”

“You--your words mean nothing to me.”

“Your mother would have been proud of you.”

“Shut up!”

The Green Samurai left Ninja Ops with unrighteous fury in everyone’s eyes, but Hunter didn’t have to see to know that Cam left Ninja Ops in tears, muddled in heartache, and wavering loyalty.

\--

Much later after Hunter had fended off questions from his friends, he found Cam by the lake, demorphed and was skipping rocks onto the water’s surface.

Hunter settled next to him. There were indeed tear tracks drying on his face, which had returned to the expressionless facade he wore on a daily basis. Hunter wanted to wipe them away, kiss his swollen eyes, and hold him until things weren’t so complicated anymore.

“You owe me big time, blondie,” Cam said neutrally, his voice was hoarse. “‘It chose you’ he said, ‘Be a ranger, it’s fun,’ he said. I should have known all men are liars.”

“You’re one of the men, too, last time I checked.” Hunter dared to smile and swerved away when Cam slapped his arm.

“I’m a villain, lying is in my job description, and why can’t you be serious for once?” Cam huffed.

“Can’t, you took all the serious with you when you decided to brood by the water,” he said and couldn’t fault Cam when his boyfriend knocked them both down onto the grass, and pinched Hunter's cheeks painfully.

“You think you’re so clever, huh? Here, smile some more, I hope it gets stuck like this, you goof.” His fingers stretched and twisted Hunter’s skin and Hunter had to shove him off to rub on his aching face.

“Dude, that’s not cool!”

“You know what else isn’t cool?! Me being a Ranger, I hate it!” Cam tossed up his hands, then slumped visibly, dropping his head onto Hunter’s chest, pillowing on his arms to scowl down at Hunter. His body felt nice. And Hunter thought they finally had a break from the crazy day.

Hunter followed his lead and shoved a palm underneath his head. His other hand, he used it to pet Cam’s hair, smudging the dried tears off on his way. “You were pretty good at it, for a noob."

“Are you listening to yourself? Of course, I’d be good at it, I’m a genius. The point is, I don’t like it, I don’t want to do it ever again.”

“Why don’t you take this chance and you know, switch careers.” Hunter hadn’t said this out loud, but he did think that dating a Ranger would be easier than a supervillain. “I dig the bad boy vibe, but green has always looked good on you.”

Cam read his thoughts, however, and glared. “No. If you want to date a Ranger then go ahead, you have three to choose from, after all, it must be easier than dating lame old me, who is your dirty little secret, and bonus, you don’t have to deal with my family drama!”

“Chill, that’s not what I meant.” Hunter winced, but pushed on. “Think about the perks, kissing at Ops, kissing before and after training, dinner date everyday, post-evil-fighting sex.”

But instead of rebuking him with his usual fiery temper, Cam sat up, clearly upset. Things were worse than Hunter had thought because normal Cam wouldn’t let their banter end there. Angry Cam Hunter knew how to deal, an upset one, this was a first. Hunter trailed after him, leaning on an elbow and hooked their fingers together in an attempt to make Cam stay. “Sorry, no more joke, talk to me, Cam.”

“I don’t want to be good, or whatever dad and mom and you want me to be! I don’t care about being bad like how uncle wants me to be. Don’t you understand? I just want to do what I want, freely and unrestricted by things like revenge, moral, and ninja code, and responsibilities to the world and humans I don’t care about.

“And I don’t care that this power chooses me, that I have a duty to wield it against Lothor, I don’t care to make my parents proud or whatever. I want to go back to building things, kissing you, and not thinking about this huge mess that wasn’t my fault to begin with. I’m not Samurai Green Ranger or Lothor’s best general, or anything!

“I’m just-- I’m just...Cam.”

Hunter was rendered speechless. He couldn’t process and determine the appropriate response in time before Cam was drawing away completely, his emotional outburst disappeared without a trace.

“Think about it. If you still want ‘Cam’ after that, then let me know,” Cam said and teleported from his spot with a ‘See you.’

Hunter fell in love with a supervillain, and his most cherished secret was three special words, but somehow he knew they weren’t what Cam needed the most at this moment. As he sat, staring at the empty space beside him, he had an inkling that Cam was lying, and he won’t see Cam again anytime soon.


	4. +Interludes

List of cons for dating a supervillain

1\. Your Sensei gives you stink eyes just because it was his long lost son you were dating, and you didn’t ask for his permission.

2\. Being judged by a guinea pig is a new low for a thunder ninja.

3\. His uncle tries to destroy you and your friends everyday. You almost died like twice. Your brother almost got killed. Your parents got killed. Your sensei and schoolmates got kidnapped.

4\. He has a serious jealousy streak. Mouthy. Sass master. No chill or no emotion, there is no in between.

5\. He has a complicated family history and is currently going through an identity crisis. The two of you guys’ combined trauma require a lot of therapy money.

6\. He will not abandon his supervillain career for you.

7\. He will only contact you based on his mood. You haven’t seen him for the past three weeks, one day, six hours and counting.

8\. Mom and dad will probably not approve. Sensei Omino will not approve. Your friends will definitely not approve when they find out who he really is.

9\. He will never under any circumstances apologize to you.

10\. You can’t show up at his doorstep to beg for forgiveness. But that is also because you still don’t know what you did wrong.

11\. He doesn’t love-

“Okay, okay, I get it! Geez man, you don’t have to read out loud the entire list, okay?” Hunter groaned loudly and buried his face into his arms.

Blake, who was tracking the words on a piece of receipts from their dinner take out, huffed in annoyance and tossed the paper at his brother’s head. “Bro, you asked me for advice, I’m just trying to help!” They were lying on the living room’s carpet of their apartment, too poor to afford actual furniture, and Blake was using Hunter’s back as his pillow.

“Look, I appreciate your… effort, but you don’t have all the facts,” Hunter said, and scribbled something under the last item on the list.

“Which are?”

Hunter paused his writing to answer. “I love him.”

Blake grumbled. “Tell him that, not me!”

“I want to! But it doesn’t come out for some reason! What if I say it and it spook him so much that he’ll run to another galaxy, and how the heck will I see him then,”

“Dude, now you’re being overly dramatic,”

“Oh yeah, then why don’t you tell Tori you like her?”

“Tori and Cam are two different people, and I don’t like her!”

Hunter turned to his brother with a raised eyebrow. “Blake Bradley, don’t you lie straight to my face ever again.”

“You are infuriating, brother!”

“Oh, Cam said that before.” Hunter sighed. “I miss him,”

“Aghhhhh!”

\--

List of pros for dating a supervillain

1 He is hot af. Great in bed. Adorable out of it.

2 Badass villain, OP swordsman with Ranger power, and can still kickass with no weapon.

3 Smartest person in the universe. For sure.

4 Actually not that evil and crime fight once in a blue moon.

5 His _smiles_. His damned smiles.

Underneath the list, there was a crossed out ‘Hunter Watanabe’ and ‘Cam Bradley’. ‘Cam Bradley’ was then circled. Thank goodness, Blake didn't see it.

\--

Dustin was typing away on the computer in the Ninja Ops control room when he heard someone plopped on the kotatsu table loudly. He was usually down for distractions, but the zords needed to be repaired before the next fight, and he couldn’t take a break to see what got Hunter so lethargic lately.

“Hey Dustin, you’re smart right?”

Without pausing, Dustin hummed, but his mind wasn’t really paying attention to the conversation, instead it was on the ones and zeroes on the screen.

“Can you somehow hack the Green Ranger’s morpher and put him in our comm channel?”

At that question, he just had to spin around in his chair to face the crimson ninja.

“Dude, do you have a crush on our angry ranger danger? What happened to Cam the PhD student? Did you two break up? Is that why he hasn’t been around the shop these days?”

“What? No, no, Cam and I haven’t broken up… unless you think he dumped me? Is this what being dumped feels like?”

“Uh oh.” Dustin made a yikes face and swirled back to the screen. “Does this have anything to do with the fact that Lothor’s nephew hadn’t been active recently?”

“Um what?”

“What?”

“W-what does that have to do with anything?”

“You know.”

Silence.

“I’m err-- I’m just gonna go hang with Shane and Tori, ask for advice, and stuff, yeah.”

Dustin let him run away and thought about Hunter's first question. He was really the smart one out of all of them. People just didn’t believe him for some reason.

\--

“So Cam and I hit a rough spot, I think he dumped me, what should I do?”

“Apologize. And don’t buy him perfume, ever,” Tori said.

Shane was even less helpful. “You just gotta save him from an evil alien and bond over your repressed childhood before he gives you his secret power and disappears in your arms.”

“Bro, are you okay?” Hunter asked. Shane shook his head.

Why were his friends like this?

Hunter took the matter to his own hands and screamed at the sky like a lunatic.

\--

Another day of protecting the world, and Hunter came to consciousness seeing a spinning dark warehouse. He desperately wished he hadn’t because his body was burning hot, and every fiber of it seared an intense ache to his nerves. He couldn’t breathe well or move, but he was coherent enough to hear Blake’s voice and another voice that brought relief to his heart, but for the life of him, he can’t remember where he’d heard it from. Then a wave of electric shock surged from his brain, forcing a guttural scream out of his throat, and Hunter can’t think anymore.

“Shit, Hunter, are you okay?” Everything became clearer, and strengths were beginning to return to his limbs. The Green Samurai Ranger stood before him, dazzling and strong, and so cool. Still completely out of it, Hunter smiled and asked.

“Hey there handsome, you’re single?”

His subconscious probably meant, _hi there, you look handsome in Ranger gears, are you single now because you dumped me for the past three weeks?_ He didn't mean for it to come out like a cheap pick-up line.

The Green Samurai Ranger immediately dropped his hold on Hunter’s injured body and let Hunter fended for himself. And Hunter almost fell into despair, or onto the ground, because this rejection business was seriously damaging to his self confidence, then his senses returned, and let’s just say it was quite an embarrassing experience all around because his comm was on and everyone heard it.

Apparently, Hunter being kidnapped got Cam to don his Ranger suit again, and if that wasn’t the ultimate special treatment, Hunter didn’t know what else was. He was not dumped, just dumb.

The downside was Cam went back to not talking to him for that screw up, which was bad, but at least Hunter didn’t accidentally reveal the Green Ranger’s real identity to their teammates.

On the bright side, Hunter woke up after his mandatory bed rest and found a black pendant with a design of a metallic shuriken inside a circle, as if it was mimicking the ninja school symbol. Below it was a note, scribbling like the writer was in haste.

‘Don’t scream my name by the seaside, stupid. Use this.’

Hunter grinned excitedly and sat up on his bed, blanket bunching around his body as he put the pendant to his mouth.

“Cam?”

Nothing. Just as Hunter thought he misunderstood its function, perhaps it wasn't a communicator-- a static rustled and Cam’s voice came in, angry and hissy just the way Hunter had been missing it.

“Do you have any idea what time it is, you big oaf?! Unless you are dying, don't call me.”

“I am dying--”

“What?! What happened? Where's Blake?”

“I am dying of heartbreak--”

“...Then die. I’m going back to sleep.”

“But Cam, I miss you.” Hunter noticed his voice was whiny and unknowingly a pout had settled on his face. Not wanting to seem too desperate, he tried to school his face and voice back to normal, but he couldn't because hearing Cam’s voice wasn't enough, it only made the void in the past weeks more apparent. Hunter wanted to see him right now, in his leather and centipede armor or whatever, but it had to be now or Hunter feared his statement would come to truth soon enough.

Then a light materialized beside Hunter’s bed, and Cam appeared in his sleep-rumpled glory-- mussed hair and loose yukata that exposed his bare chest and a crimson pair of boxers.

“Don’t say a word.”

Hunter mimed zipping up his mouth with a wide victorious grin that was ignored as Cam ditched his slippers, climbing onto the twin size bed and sliding under the cover. Then when Hunter scooted to lay down and wrap his arms around Cam to draw him in closer, Cam sighed and fell back into sleep easily.

They had to talk still. But Hunter watched Cam’s peaceful expression and thought it could wait.

\--

There was a rumor that the nephew had dumped the Crimson Ranger. It was a hot topic on the ship for days as aliens and villains adjusted their destruction to finally include the last member of the Rangers. But rumor was just rumor, and the nephew returned with Motodrone’s scattered body parts with a smile that said ‘This could be you, if you dare.’ No one dared. No one listened to rumors again.

If the nephew walked around with an ear stud with the crimson thunder symbol, then no one said anything about it.


	5. Fourth

So apparently hiding a lot of things from his friends was bad, even if they were super personal things related to his inner trauma over his parents and one supervillain boyfriend. Because when said boyfriend, who was secretly fighting against his own villain group and chasing the thrill of a double life, crashed his helicopter megazord in an alarming explosion on the screen in Ninja Ops, there was nothing he could say or do to explain the loud “Cam!” that escaped from his mouth.

“Did you just say Cam? That’s your boy Cam?” Shane turned to him, eyes wide.

Tori’s mouth gaped open. “We gotta help him!”

Even if he wanted to deny it, his heart had jumped and lodged itself in his throat because the zord wasn't getting up. Technically, the Green Ranger was a wild card, he wasn’t part of the team despite his sparse bout of justice.

“Bro, we are so talking about this after,” Blake added.

“It doesn't matter, Hunter, you need to go get him now,” Dustin said, typing on the keyboard. “I’m going to teleport you to the coordinate, while you’re there, you can search for the portal with the ancient weapon as well.”

“Good idea, Dustin,” Shane said, squaring up in his no funny business posture, befitting of a leader. “Tori, Blake and I will head down with our zords to fight the Wolfblades, Dustin will come when he’s finished with you."

“Sounds good.”

Hunter just nodded, still not trusting himself to speak without, you know, falling apart like dry dirt on a motocross track, and fell into formation from muscle memory.

“Ready?” Shane asked.

“Ready!”

Nope. Hunter wasn’t ready. What if when he gets there and Cam wasn’t okay, what if they’ll never talk again, Hunter hadn’t told him yet--

“Hunter,” Sensei said, jolting him out of his thoughts. “Please take care of him.”

Then Dustin sent him off with a click.

\--

“Cam! Come in, Cam!” Hunter screamed into his pendant while racing across the unknown forest, looking for a Green suit amidst all these green trees. The megazord lied atop of the skyline, sparking and burning gray columns of smoke, but still, there was no sign of its pilot. “Cam! Where are you?!”

Static. “Please stop screaming in my ear." Tension drained from Hunter’s frame as relief flooded his heart. Thank god. “I’m north-east of the Star Chopper, come get me?”

“Hang tight, I’m on my way.” Hunter streaked across branches at the speed that would make Sensei Omino proud; this was the fastest he had ever been.

“No, I’m just going to walk around and make it harder for you to find me.”

Hunter chuckled between labor breaths and muscle cramps as he dropped down onto the location, finding Cam, bruised but not bleeding, against a tree with his hand on his ribs, demorphed and vulnerable with the raging battle going on near them.

“If you can still sass me, it must be better than it looks.”

Cam’s glare turned into a wince as Hunter crouched to haul him up, shouldering an arm. “Think a couple might be fractured,” he wheezed.

“Damn, can you go on? I have to look for an ancient weapon to fight against Shimazu,” Hunter said, anxiety laced his voice again as he scanned Cam over. He was sweating beads and pulled a face with every step they took.

“Is looking for artifacts your responsibility or something? First the amulet, now this,” Cam puffed a laugh that got him grimacing in pain. He shut his eyes tight and lolled his head against Hunter’s, concentrating on his breathing.

Hunter wanted to ache in his stead. “Sorry, I hate to see you in pain, but the faster we get this thing, the faster I can patch you up.”

“Yeah, I’m not made of glass, let’s go, I think I saw something like a portal earlier,” Cam said, and nodded in a direction, and Hunter gritted his teeth and forced himself to carry both of their weight forward again, listening to Cam’s raspy breathing.

They spotted the purple entrance soon enough, and with a final look at each other, stepped into it. Hopefully this time, it wasn’t a fight waiting on the other side.

\--

The Mammoth zord was magnificent and powerful and was controlled by Cam once again. His supervillain boyfriend apparently knew how to play the guitar, Hunter thought that he had been missing out big time. Belatedly, he realized that he had lost another rare item to the enemy, but Cam was helping them defeat the Wolfblades, maybe that counted for something and Sensei would understand.

Immediately after the fight, Hunter had dragged Cam back to Ninja Ops even when he was demorphed and clad in his leather and marking of Lothor’s army. There was no mistake in his identity this time, and Tori and Shane gasped in shock.

“Green Ranger is PhD student Cam who is Lothor’s evil general Cam who is your boyfriend Cam? Dude!” Shane held a hand on his forehead.

“Who is also my son, Cam,” Sensei added in calmly. He really could have picked a better time to announce the biggest secret in the room as Cam scowled darkly.

That, Dustin and Blake didn’t know. And everybody clamored for answers, directing at Sensei, voices overlapping like a daycare center. Maybe this was the appropriate time to divulge that he’d been keeping fragments of the Gem of Souls all this time-- distract and conquer kind of deal.

Cam groaned with irritation and muttered, “Forget them, I’d like to be pampered now.” If his lips were brushing way too close to Hunter’s ears, then that was a bonus. They snuck to the medbay under all the craziness.

There, Hunter lowered Cam to a bed and rummaged through the cupboards for supplies and spoke with a commanding, no-nonsense tone.

“Top off, list of injuries, now.”

“Ribs are the main problem, hit my head but no symptoms of concussion, minor bruises everywhere, want to check?” Cam gave a small smile as he very carefully tossed his shoulder plate and unzipped his uniform. The sight made Hunter short circuited and he didn’t even bother to return the quips.

Dark purple and gut-wrenching bruises bloomed across Cam’s right side to form a big patch, contrasting starkly with his pale skin. It was ugly and painful and made Hunter seriously reconsider Cam’s Ranger activity. Fighting the wind ninja never hurt him like this.

“Oh come on, don’t make that face, this is nothing.” Cam tugged at Hunter’s clenched fists and pulled him between his legs, uncurling finger by finger, then kissed the crescents indented in Hunter’s palms.

“I really hate to see you hurt,” Hunter said and knelt to take a closer look. His hand hovered above the injury, but was hesitant to cause more pain even if he had to check for breakage.

“Sap.” Cam just grabbed his fingers and pressed them onto the throbbing contusion. They both hissed at the contact. “Just do it.”

Slowly, Hunter ran his fingers on each rib, applying a gentle pressure and checking Cam’s responses carefully, making note of every flinch, every hitch of air. “Sorry,”

“What for?”

“For being stupid by the lake, I don’t really think before I speak.” Cam’s lips twitched at that. “Sorry for being a jerk when you needed me.”

“Look, it was a stressful day, and I might have overreacted just a bit. If I want a boyfriend who treat me like I’ll break at every touch, I’ll date Blake.”

“Don’t let Tori hear you say that.” Hunter finished with the final rib, and looked up at Cam with a tired smile, his worries soothed by the acceptable state of Cam’s injury. No break, no fracture, but that he can’t be sure without imaging, the bruises, however, will definitely reduce Cam’s mobility and fighting ability. He debated on wrapping it, but Cam distracted him with a thumb brushing at his cheek.

“Anyway I’m dating you, Hunter.” Cam leaned in to kiss him softly. “Impulsive, pigheaded, and aren’t afraid to push me around, you. So shove off with your apologies and kiss the hell out of me, preferably now please.”

There was his Cam, demanding and rough around the edge, but somehow, he was everything Hunter ever wanted anyway.

“How romantic,” Hunter teased, but stopped Cam with a finger to his lips before they could kiss again. He pulled two round pills from the first aid kit. “Ninja-grade painkiller, will make you a bit lightheaded, but will definitely help,” he explained and placed them on Cam’s tongue when Cam opened his mouth with an eye roll.

Once Cam dry swallowed the pills, Hunter surged in and captured his lips with a fervent that stemmed from weeks of longing and pining, tilting his head so that they could get even closer. He latched both hands on Cam’s neck, holding him still as he bit and licked and sucked and relished in Cam’s grip on his hair and the way their teeth clanged carelessly.

Hunter lowered them both on the bed, cautious of Cam’s injury as he propped himself up with his elbows and the knee between Cam’s legs. But Cam was impatient and unconcerned and tried to pull Hunter down to be nearer, his hands sliding below the thunder uniform to look for skin.

“Can I still take you up on that post-evil-fighting sex offer?” Cam asked, when they broke apart to pant against one another. 

Hunter nibbled on Cam’s jaw and throat as he felt the familiar restless urge and desire rushed from the bottom up. “It’s always a yes with you.” Well, it was probably a bad idea, but how can Hunter say no to anything that Cam asked?

“Then why the hell are you wearing so much clothes?”

Before Hunter could amend that, a blast shook the wall violently and sounds of fighting permeated through the door. They instantly jumped apart, alerted and wary. Cam returned to his armor as kunai appeared in his hand. He gave Hunter a nod before they ventured outside to find Ninja Ops in shambles, and Lothor and his nieces stood triumphantly over the Rangers, who were on the floor, curling in pain. Sensei was nowhere to be seen.

“There you are, nephew.” Lothor held out an arm as if he was welcoming the addition of his best general. “You weren’t home in so long that we decided to come get you ourselves.”

“Thanks for coming by, you didn’t really have to go out of your way,” Cam said, voice and face showed no trace of emotion even as his stance held and blade still pointed at his uncle. He placed himself in front of Hunter like a self sacrificing idiot.

“And you,” Lothor addressed Hunter with a flick of his finger, sending him flying against the wall effortlessly. The air knocked from Hunter’s lungs and white spots exploded in his eyes, he fell to his knees. “I knew you were trouble the day he started seeing you, then suddenly I got a memory of a very troublesome duo in my past, a blonde just like you, and someone who fought exactly like my dear nephew, imagine that.”

“Oooh, you’re in so much trouble, cousin,” Marah chimed in and received glares from both Lothor and Cam.

“Took my eyes off you and you became the Green Samurai Ranger, huh, perhaps I’ve been too lacking with your discipline.” Then Lothor attacked and Cam rushed in headfirst, aiming for pressure points and nerves and no longer pulling his punch as he had before. But he was weakened from his injury and the medicine, and was moving slower and clumsier than usual as Lothor easily parried, pushed him around.

Hunter growled and charged, fist drawing back, but Marah and Kapri intercepted him before he could join Cam against Lothor. He had to counter strikes from power staff and kicks and punches, and barely dodged cuts from swords.

There was no time to transform as he rolled out of the way of an energy beam that shattered the bookshelf behind him, sending him to the ground once again. When he reoriented himself, he found Cam hanging unconscious between Marah and Kapri with new bruises on his face, and blood trickled from his head.

From deep inside him emerged an anger and hatred against Lothor so strong it boiled his blood and wrenched a war cry from his throat as he lunged forward. But it was too late as uncle, nieces and nephew disappeared from Ninja Ops with a crackle of energy, and Hunter plummeted to the ground where they had stood before.

Cam was gone. This time it wasn’t by his own choice.


	6. Fifth

Home to Cam used to be a small spaceship with only one quarter space to live in. He couldn't remember much during that period aside from being told not to chew on certain things and to stop asking why they flew from planet to planet to speak with some random creatures.

But then after, home was this giant spaceship hybrid monster thing that scared him to tear when they moved, and suddenly there were other uncles and aunts, some who looked at him in disdain like he was diseased until Lothor carried him on his side, discussing evil plans and all sorts while daring anyone to speak of it.

He knew that at one point, home was yellow dirt, flowing water, and air that rustled leaves and billowed flags.

But that meant nothing when uncle let Cam fiddle with his hair, sung lullaby off keys as he cuddled Cam close and swayed to sooth his sickness. Uncle bought him weapons and armors and machines and scrolls of knowledge, and taught him how to bring anyone deserving of his ire down to their knees straight to their graves, and showed him power, and Cam was fine with this home. Until he met Hunter.

Hunter was brazen words and impertinent attitude even as he stood before Lothor, the Master of the ship who possessed an army of monsters and aliens that could crush him and his brother like child’s play. He was fierce and strong, tall and proud as he talked about rage and revenge and looked so damn good in his Ranger suit that Cam immediately took interest. And it was just supposed to be a pass time, a whim of his like many before, short-live and not at all serious.

But then Hunter was light-heart banters, sensual bites of lips, and late night cuddles, and something new Cam had never felt for anyone before. Cam, who was used to worships because of his status in the army, of the power he held, wasn’t used at all to Hunter’s bold and overwhelming gestures, and he certainly didn’t show it, but Cam was drowning in lingering kisses, honest touches that were both rough and gentle, and sweet words that wasn’t stem only from passion. Hunter somehow managed to make Cam feel, and never stopped, rooting his presence in Cam’s heart and grew from there.

Cam had always possessed authority to act freely; after all, he was the Master’s nephew who was raised like a son, an heir, and his words were weighted only below Lothor’s. Perhaps that was why he had mistaken this authority to be freedom, and it only took his uncle yanking on the chain for him to realize that freedom had never existed, not with the life he led.

And his uncle had no qualm about tossing him in the prison room and fastened shackles around his limbs.

\--

Hunter was numbed in a way he hadn’t been since the death of his parents. As the wind ninja and his brother nursed their wounds in the wreckage left behind by Lothor, Hunter only gripped tight onto the pendant hanging from his neck.

“Hey, you okay, man?” Blake clapped a hand on his shoulder and sat beside Hunter. He was covered in dust and facial bruises, but otherwise wasn’t too beaten up. They both watched as Shane and Dustin tried to salvage what they could of the computer system, while Tori was caring for Sensei, who somehow had returned to his human form, but was in the worst state of them all.

“No, not really.” Hunter forced a mirthless smile.

Cam left him all the time, before Hunter woke up in the morning, right after they slept together or whenever he got mad, but he never left without his own volition. Cam who had a choice would always come back to Hunter, the shuriken on his neck was proof, but Cam without a choice filled Hunter to the brim with dread and uncertainty because now, now he was treading in foreign water infested with a giant, man eating centipede.

“He’ll be okay, Hunter.”

“This is like when we lost mom and dad all over again.”

Blake heaved a deep sigh. “You really love him?”

“Yeah, didn’t I tell you?”

“I always thought you were half-joking, you guys weren’t together long before you started sprouting that stuff, not to mention he was very much an enemy. I wasn’t sure how long it’ll last and was preparing to pick you back up after the fallout.”

At that, Hunter huffed out a laugh. Trust his brother to be the worrywart between the two of them. “Nah, Cam is special. But thanks for watching out for me.”

“But man, you really know how to pick them,” Shane said and settled on Hunter’s other side, slinging an arm on his neck, offering a stable pillar for Hunter to lean on, and Hunter took the comfort for everything that it was worth.

Blake must have sensed that he didn’t want to talk anymore and chimed in. “Shane, you can say that when you sort out your mess with Skyla.”

“Maybe it’s a Red Ranger kind of thing, you know, to have a complicated love life,” Tori said.

“Blue isn’t so simple either, you know,” Blake said, then he and Tori smiled at each other.

“Aha!” Dustin, who was sitting on the floor, exclaimed as the screen on his laps flickered to life, but as soon as it did, his excitement dimmed. “Uh oh, guys, Shane’s favorite fish is back, and he got an upgrade.” The image of a giant Vexacus swinging his sword through mountains and soft ground filled the monitor.

\--

Cam blinked awake with a vicious pounding in his head, and a sharp pang in his side that took away his breaths. His wrists were bound above his head, stringing him taut from the ground, just barely above his height, leaving him on his tiptoes or risking chain digging into his wrists and drawing blood. There was a noticeable missing weight on his index finger, where his last weapon was stripped from his body.

Before him stood his uncle, who watched him with an unidentifiable expression, and in his hand was Cam’s samurai amulet.

“Who would have thought my own nephew would betray me this way?” Lothor commented, and his tone took on a chastised note as if this was another lesson for Cam to learn.

“While you’ve been gone, dallying with the cursed Ranger, I’ve been setting my ultimate plan in place. Marah and Kapri had been diligently picking up your slacks, destroying all of my generals to fill up the Abyss of Evil, and soon, your Rangers will destroy the last, Vexacus, sending the Abyss to its full capacity and bringing the earth under my reign. You could have been beside me to inherit all this power, but you chose him, who is nothing.”

Cam looked at this masked man, and for the life of him, couldn’t reconcile him with the uncle who carried him on his back, who once roared in laughter at something clever Cam had said, and felt a tremendous loss as he finally came to term with a long awaited decision. He’d chosen.

“Uncle,” Cam called the way he used to when he had nightmares as a kid, meek and uncertain as he crawled into bed beside his uncle, searching for protection and warmth. But those days were long over. “Thank you for raising me.”

“Foolish boy, I kidnapped you from your mother and you thank me?!” Lothor laughed, but it was a crazed laugh because he must have realized what this meant.

“You could have starved me, beaten me, and worse, but you were here, you loved me even if you never said it, and I get it, uncle, people like us, things like love, it came from action.” Unwillingly tears wet his eyes, and Cam hadn’t cried in front of his uncle ever since he turned double digit.

Thank you because this was the end, and Cam had chosen the other side. The next time they see each other, if Cam was alive until then, it will be as enemies.

“I would have let you rejoin my rank if you had just begged me once! Once, boy! Because you are my blood, and blood is thicker than water--”

“And family is family,” Cam said, he was repeating Lothor’s lesson, but if Lothor couldn’t live by his own words when it came to Kanoi, then Cam had no reason to follow such meaningless teaching.

Lothor turned his back to Cam with the air of finality. “That is why I will allow you your life until this ship self-detonates. Your life started here, now it will end here, too.” Then he disappeared, leaving Cam by himself in a big, lonely ship.

His cyber double stepped out from the shadow soon enough, but he looked so sorry that Cam didn't dare to hope. "I made sure the ninja students would be released when it happens," he said, his hand reaching as if to wipe the blood on Cam's face, but it flickered and passed through Cam like a ghost's touch. Cam closed his eyes, resigned.

"Marah messed with your code?" Cam guessed.

"Call your boyfriend," CyberCam said instead. _Say your goodbye_ , he must have thought. Then he smiled and blinked away from the room.

Lothor had made the mistake of leaving Cam his ear piece, so Cam called, “Hunter.”

\--

The Thunder Megazord fought Vexacus with a brutal pace, allowing him no rest as the Storm Megazord continued the string of attacks. Hunter channeled all of his wrath and worries into punches and kicks, slashes and stabs, and pretended it was Lothor whom he was pummeling. His brother had said nothing aside from matching his action, allowing Hunter full lead in the battle.

Finally, they delivered the final blow and Vexacus’s form erupted into flames and explosions and everyone’s cheer, but Hunter still wasn’t satisfied, and it drove him crazy.

“Rangers, unusual activity was picked up south of your location,” Sensei’s voice broke through the comm. “I’m sending the coordinate now, proceed with caution.”

“Got it, Sensei,” Shane responded, and directed their zords.

There was another static, and Hunter thought Sensei had returned with more news, but it was Cam’s voice that came through, sending Hunter’s heart haywire.

“Hunter,” Cam said. “Hunter, are you there?” His voice was weak and he sounded pained.

“Cam! Cam, are you okay? What’s going on?”

“Cam? Hunter, Cam contacted you?”

Hunter switched on his zord’s comm so everyone can hear their conversation.

“Listen, I don’t have much time.”

“What do you mean you don’t have much time?” Hunter breathed in deeply. He watched enough movies to know what this meant.

“Listen to me. Don’t defeat Vexacus, you’re just playing straight into Lothor’s plan, he planned to overload the Abyss of Evil and used my amulet to open it to return monsters from the dead--”

“Too late,” Dustin said, and their zords arrived at the coordinate to see a wide crack in the earth.

“Fuck!” Cam exclaimed like a hiss. “Why do you Rangers always become competent at the worst moment?!”

“Anyway, where are you? Are you on Lothor’s ship?” Hunter demanded because this was no angsty movie ending, damnit. And he was going to stay calm and figure this out.

“Yeah, but it doesn’t matter...Hey Hunter, I love you, you know that right, I know I don’t really say it, but you must have known, right?” 

“Cam,” Hunter's heart squeezed tight, and hysteria threatened to overflow because how can he stay calm when Cam was professing his love like he was dying. “Don't be a coward and come and say it to my face, what’s going on over there?!”

“The control board should be destroyed soon and send back the captured ninja, they can help you guys stop Lothor, and you have to no matter what, do you understand me?”

“Cam, you’re scaring me, I’m coming to get you--”

“Stupid, you got your responsibilities, just tell me Hunter, three words, and that’s enough.”

“To hell with that!” But it wasn’t Hunter who had spoken. It was Tori, and she sounded angry. “Hunter, go get him, we’ll get a head start on the situation here. Cam, you said we have to defeat Lothor, but how are we going to win without our sixth member?”

“The lady has spoken,” Shane said with a grin.

“We can’t disobey her, no, we cannot,” Dustin added.

Blake agreed. “Go get your other half, I got your back, dude.”

“Are you guys listening to yourselves? I’m on Lothor’s ship for god sake! In space! Which will go boom in minutes!" Jesus, it will go boom in minutes, Hunter repeated in his mind. "Just stay there, and do your job! I don’t need your help!”

“The Gem of Souls!” Hunter suddenly cried.

“Uhh I thought we tossed them already, bro,” Blake said.

“Not all of them. I got this, guys, go! I’ll get Cam and be there soon.”

“Understood. Let’s go, guys!” Shane said and the Rangers followed his lead, leaping down from their zords to assess the situation below.

“...moron, just stop, you can use the Gem to fight Lothor.”

“No, you stop! I’m sick of this kind of talk, you hear me? If you don’t shut up, I’m going to punch you in the face when I see you,” Hunter growled and clenched the green shards in his fist tightly. He knew the Gem held significant power, he knew it can help, he just didn’t know how! This wasn’t magic or sorcery, but a power source, and Hunter had nothing to channel it.

“I believe I may be of some help,” Sensei spoke again. “We can channel the Gem’s energy toward the Ninja Ops’ teleportation system, that should be enough for you to break through the ship’s barrier. I’m currently scanning for the ship’s location but it appears to be cloaked.”

“Can you honed in on the signal transmitting between Hunter and my communicator...Dad?”

“Great idea, Cam, there it is, location locked on.”

“Go for it Sensei, I’m ready. Cam, wait for me.”

“...Okay, I--I'll see you then.”

Then Hunter was zapped from his zord onto the dark deck of Lothor’s ship, and couldn’t believe it worked!

“Cam, I’m in, where are you?”

“Dungeon, just blast your way down.”

“Crimson Blaster!” Hunter said and pointed the gun down, firing at maximum strength. The floor caved like white foam as Hunter hopped into the hole created, falling through the air until he landed right in front of Cam. 

Cam, whose face had lost all of its color except for the dried blood flaking on his temple, who was injured and strung against a pillar, fell on top of Hunter, boneless, as Hunter sliced through the chain.

“I got you,” Hunter said.

“We got to get the students,” Cam said, his face was twisting in pain with every movement. He looked like he could barely move, so Hunter hooked an arm below his legs and swung him into a bridal carry.

“I thought they would be released automatically when the ship gets destroyed,” Hunter said, running to the control room. That, he knew where from his brief team up with Lothor. 

“Yeah, but that was before, but you’re here, we can’t just leave them, you ass!” Cam hit a weak punch in his chest, and Hunter smiled under his helmet.

“Geez, sorry for prioritizing you.”

They arrived at the control room when the first explosion started, rocking the ground under their feet, throwing Hunter against a wall as he held onto Cam tightly.

“Call the gun!” 

“Crimson Blaster!”

With one swoop, pain or no, Cam twisted to fire at the main board, located in the middle of the room. Electricity sparked and short-circuited and prompted new explosions as the bubbles containing the ninja students flew away.

“Sensei, we’re ready.” And they were gone. Lothor’s ship and Cam’s life for the past two decades shattered into pieces like a supernova.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> edit 07/20: i changed one scene bc i forgot about cybercam


	7. Final

After everything was over, and the Ranger Powers disappeared inside the Abyss along with Lothor, his father had allowed Cam to construct a grave in the forest. Despite everything that he did, and all the people he had killed, he was still Cam’s uncle, his only family for years, and Cam felt the loss intensely.

It didn’t make sense, but he can’t help it. His father certainly didn’t understand, and disapproved silently. But his father was his father in birth only, and nothing else. Cam could care less about his opinion. They weren’t going to rebuild a nonexistent bridge over days.

Marah and Kapri were gone without a trace, while Cam was temporarily housed in the rebuilt Wind Academy, which was flooded with students who were captured and knew exactly who he was to Lothor.

Despite having the wind trio around, the atmosphere became tense whenever Cam was spotted on campus. It wasn’t like he broke them out and fought together with them against Lothor in the final battle or anything. Cam came out of that with broken ribs and a fractured collarbone, and frankly, he was exhausted, physically and emotionally. He just wanted Hunter.

But Hunter was busy with the Thunder Academy, being pulled in multiple directions as Omino groomed him to become the next head teacher. He didn’t have to tell Cam, everybody could see it was coming. Cam didn’t think there would be a place for him there either, and he didn’t know what this meant because he had bared his heart out to Hunter on what he thought was his deathbed, but hadn’t heard a single word in return. And he didn’t want to think about it.

Loving Hunter didn’t mean Cam had to sit around and wait for him forever, right?

“Freedom is also complicated, uncle.” With a last pat on the grave, Cam stood up and left in the opposite direction of the academy. Reefside seemed like a good place to move to.

\--

Hunter daydreamed about his evil supervillain boyfriend slash Samurai Ranger pretty often, about how he was no longer a villain or a Ranger, but was still badass even dead on his feet with demobilizing injuries. He faced Lothor unmorphed, no zord, and was only equipped with a piece of a broken street sign and came out victorious, drenched in sweats, dirt, and blood of his enemy.

Hunter fell in love just a little bit more every time he thought of Cam. They hadn’t had time together with everything that was going on, but Hunter was excited to show Cam his present, finalized when Blake decided to race for Factory Blue, and Hunter decided to stay with the Thunder Academy.

Now if he could just find the guy. For someone who was connected to Hunter’s pendant twenty-four seven, he was surprisingly hard to get a hold of.

“Hey, have you guys seen Cam? He’s not picking up his communicator,” Hunter asked his group of friends, who were sitting around the kotatsu in a remodeled Ninja Ops. They were watching another episode of Stu Starmaker’s ‘Totally Talented’ as if they weren’t instructors of a ninja academy and had all the time in the world.

Blake had an arm around Tori, finally, and waved Hunter over. “Well, he just won first place.”

Hunter’s brows rose to his hairline. What? “No way.” Cam was on Totally Talented? And Hunter had missed it?!

The Cam on TV was back to wearing square frame glasses, and an ugly cowboy hat paired with boots and everything. But the green flowery shirt definitely screamed Cam, and Hunter suddenly missed him severely.

“He was actually pretty good, not as good as the sax master extraordinary, but pretty good!” Dustin laughed. “They might sign him with a band as a lead guitarist.”

“Your boy gonna be a star, man!” Shane drum rolled on the table, completely shedding his head teacher persona and back into their dorky leader.

“Shh, guys, it’s the behind-the-stage interview,” Tori shushed them, and Hunter paid closer attention.

“How does it feel to win a ticket to future stardom?” Stu asked.

Cam seemed as excited as he was about to present his latest science project, whatever madness that it was. “Amazing! But I'm more concern that I can finally afford my PhD degree. Stardom is great, but knowledge is power, you know how it is!”

“Of course, of course, how inspiring! Cam Bradley, everyone, well I certainly hope you succeed with your study and future as a musician!”

Hunter did a double take as everyone whipped their heads to stare at him. “Dude, did you forget to tell us something really important again?” Shane blinked.

The object sitting in his pocket was getting heavy and heavier, and Hunter shook his head rapidly. “I don’t think I’ll be clueless enough to miss my own proposal,” and wedding, he added internally. There was pink dusting his cheeks, and Tori cooed.

“But you are planning to propose?”

“I knew it! I suspected since you scribbled on my list of cons, bro! You gotta stop keeping life-changing decisions on the D.L. with me!”

“Wait, what list?” Tori turned to Blake with a curious grin.

“No!” Hunter interrupted before Blake could disclose any more state secrets within the Bradley’s household that now included Cam apparently. “I’m not planning to propose, geez, it’s been barely over a year.”

Dustin pulled something up on the computer by his side. “It looks like he had recently acquired a property near midtown, did you know about this Blake?”

“Dude, does it look like he tells me anything anymore?” Blake shook his head in disbelief.

“Bro, we did talk about this!” Hunter defended. “You know when you signed with Roger Hannah, that thing!”

Blake blinked and a wide smile broke out on his face. “Oh, that!”

“What? What? Tell me!” Tori shook her boyfriend.

“No, I want to hear about that list of cons first, what’s that about?” Shane grinned mischievously, definitely didn’t miss Hunter’s earlier distraction.

“Ugh, you know what, I’m out of here, I got a boyfriend to hunt down,” Hunter said and left for the door, leaving behind giggles and conspiratorial whispers, but he didn’t care much because all he could think about was ‘Cam Bradley’ over and over again.

There was a spring in his steps until he decided he couldn’t take anymore and ninja streaked to Blue Bay Harbor University.

\--

“Mr. Bradley? Oh, you mean Cam, the really eccentric CS teaching assistant, um, I think his office is in the basement of the engineer building, see that gray building behind the tower? That’s the one.” A really helpful female student smiled at Hunter, placing a hand on his arm that was sending all sorts of wrong signals. “Say, I haven’t seen you around here before, you’re an incoming freshman?”

“Hunter?” Cam said from behind him, and Hunter could already hear the dark scowl on his face. How come Cam always arrived before situations like this?

Hunter brushed off the girl’s hand with a polite smile. “No, I’m the other Mr. Bradley,” he said with a head tilt toward Cam.

“Oh.” She blushed, embarrassed. “Sorry,” she mumbled and hurried away with a tiny wave at Cam.

Hunter turned to face Cam with a sheepish smile and hands stuck in the pockets of his jeans. “Hey Cam Bradley.”

That brought a tiny twitch to Cam’s lips, and Hunter knew he narrowly escaped Cam’s jealousy streak.

“Hey the other Mr. Bradley.” Cam was carrying notebooks in one arm and a side-bag, hanging off his other shoulder. His green shirt today had palm trees pattern as it hung over white undershirt, ripped jeans and sandals.

“So tell me how did I manage to miss our engagement and wedding?” Hunter took a forward step to close their distance, hovering his face near to peer into Cam’s dark eyes.

“Well, you were at the Academy for weeks, so I just helped myself.” Cam held off a smile and leaned in as if he was going to kiss Hunter, then as Hunter anticipated the long-awaited contact, he turned away and walked off in the opposite direction of campus. “You managed to miss me moving out, actually enrolling in school, winning a talent show, _and_ defending my dissertation.”

Hunter felt slightly guilty as he caught up to walk beside Cam. “Sorry, things were so crazy, it’s settling down though.” Hunter hooked his index finger onto Cam’s pinky and felt it curled back in approval.

“So you finally come crawling to your last priority?”

“Aw, come on, you know that’s not true, man, I missed you so much, and I know you missed me, too, let’s go on a date tonight.”

“Bold of you to assume I don’t have plan already.”

Hunter sulked. “I wouldn’t have to assume if you’d pick up your damn communicator, it’s in your ear for goodness sake, how do you missed me mumbling ‘Cam’ every hour?”

“You were distracting me in class, so I muted you.” Cam grinned unabashedly. “You’re distracting me right now in fact.” And Hunter felt eyes trailing down his body. He didn’t wear anything special aside from a loose fitting T-shirt with jeans, but it felt as if all the cuts and corners of his body were being scrutinized by Cam’s keen eyes. Hunter gulped, feeling his pulse racing and god, it had been too long.

“How about we grab take out, then Netflix and chill at your place in Reefside?”

“Good idea.”

And they picked up sushi on the way back, and totally didn’t eat it.

\--

Cam’s place had a queen mattress, a desk, and two boxes of books, scraps and power tools, and exactly one suitcase filled with outrageous-designed shirts, assorted pants and his toiletry. His fridge’s contents now included their recent purchase of sushi and a case of beer, but there wasn’t anything else in the entire apartment. Not that this was shabby because if they compared it to Hunter’s old apartment with Blake and their twin size beds, this was a gold upgrade.

Hunter was easy, all he really needed was a bed with Cam in it, and he was a happy man. As they fell apart to catch their breaths, Cam rolled onto his stomach, pulling the sheet with him and stared at Hunter.

“Food, and then again?”

Oh, right. Endless stamina.

Hunter chuckled and pressed his lips onto Cam’s shoulder blade, where a dark stingray was inked onto his skin, this was an addition he wasn’t going to complain about. There was also a red centipede etched on his left shoulder like the way his shoulder plate used to be, and it made Hunter consider getting a shuriken ink to match Cam. He rolled out of the sheets and wandered to the kitchen without a single piece of covering.

Then they lied on their stomachs side by side to eat sushi with forks, and cracked open cold beer while Cam actually put on Netflix. Hunter couldn’t stop grinning from ear to ear as he finally relaxed for real for the first time in weeks, responsibilities out of sight and out of mind, the only thing was the key in his pocket.

“What are you looking at, you goof?”

“You, what else?”

“I don’t know, how about the show you wanted to watch in the first place?” Cam rolled his eyes, but he was basking in the attention.

“Cam, I don’t think you understand what Netflix and chill is.”

“You’re kidding, right, I’m not stupid, it means you watch Netflix and hang out.” Cam propped himself onto an elbow, narrowing his eyes at Hunter.

“Oh dude, that is so not it.” Hunter laughed and rolled onto his back. He let out a big ‘oof’ when Cam moved to drop his weight onto Hunter’s chest. Not long ago, they were in the same position and Hunter might have fucked up spectacularly, this time though, he kissed Cam and held onto him so Cam couldn't leave again.

Cam moved to nip and bite at Hunter’s throat, and before Hunter could lose himself again, he forced his mind to work. “You remembered what you asked me to think about a long time ago?’

“Hm?”

“Whether I still want ‘just Cam’ that wasn’t Lothor’s general or Green Samurai Ranger--”

That distracted Cam from Hunter’s neck and he was slightly disappointed at the loss of contact. But they had put off this conversation long enough.

“I don’t want ‘just Cam.’”

Cam frowned, Hunter could see his mind already jumping to the worst conclusion.

“I want ‘all Cam’, you get me?” Hunter said, sliding his hand onto Cam’s hair and flipping their position.

“The evil Cam, the samurai Cam, the jealous Cam, the PhD student Cam, anything that’s you, I want, you’re not ‘just’ anything, you’re a lot and, I want all of it, do you understand?” Hunter brushed his thumb on Cam’s cheek.

“Three words, Hunter,” Cam reminded, frown already gone, replaced by a self-satisfied expression that was almost smug.

“I need more than three,” Hunter said, then reaching for his jeans on the ground, he dug a silver key from the front pocket. “I know you value your freedom, and I’m not tying you down or anything heavy like that; it’s not an expectation of forever, but a choice to stay as long as you want, and you can leave whenever, and I’ll be sad and I’ll miss you, but I won’t stop you, that’s what this means.”

Cam blinked in wonder and inspected the key, still not letting any reaction through.

“I bought a house in midtown, equal distance from Reefside and the Thunder Academy. I don’t expect you to drop your new life and move in with me, but I decided not to live on academy ground. I might spend a couple nights there to do work, but then I’m going home, and you can, too, if you’d like.”

Cam bit his lips like he was trying really hard to stop a smile, but one bloomed on his face anyway.

“Ha, I think that’s the sappiest thing you’ve ever said to me at one time since we started dating.” He rolled away from under Hunter to hook the new key on his key chain, but Hunter already saw the dark shade of red burning across his face. That was a first, and it made Hunter’s heart sung.

Hunter grinned and couldn’t help pulling Cam against his chest, mumbling into his neck,“And I love you.”

Cam laughed, clear and bright, and Netflix was forgotten as they kissed again, and again.


	8. +Postlude

Cam, now armed with a doctorate degree, decided he was going to teach highschool computer science in order to focus on his personal projects. Hunter was making enough money for him to indulge in mad scientist machines without having to immerse himself in academia, but he did churn out the occasional research paper that got the name Cam Bradley circulated in the field. 

They never got married, but Cam needed a last name for paperwork, and Watanabe just wasn’t going to cut it. Cam Bradley sounded nice and he embraced it fully. 

Cam moved to Hunter’s house on a random Monday evening for no other reason than the fact his latest project flooded his apartment in Reefside. So a man and a couple of boxes just migrated over and never left. Cam kept his apartment though, making it fully into his work room or lab or whatever he felt like doing that day. 

That wasn’t to say Cam didn’t build secret lair and passageways in the house, the evil villain blood ran too strong for him to avoid it. Hunter just sighed because he hadn’t paid off the mortgage, yet. 

Hunter brought home an orange tabby that acted like a dog, who demanded Cam to pet her every moment of the day. Cam named her ‘Kiya’ much to everyone’s chagrin. But Hunter played fetch with Kiya and she slept on his chest, after following him around to rub fur on his pants, so she became his daughter pretty quickly, and got fed bites of their dinner almost every day. 

There were countless rumors surrounding them and ‘the other Bradley’ in their respective schools. There wasn’t much problem at Cam’s, but in the Thunder Academy, new recruits whispered when Blake came to visit, and thought he must be ‘the other Bradley,’ and that train of thought just put everyone in an awkward spot. 

Blake joked and said he should change his name to Blake Hanson. Tori immediately took out a ring. Hunter cried. Then this and that happened, and the Blues’ wedding almost got ruined by the mess with Mesogog and the Dino Thunder kids in Reefside, but that was another story for another time.

Anyway, Hunter lived happily with his ex-supervillain boyfriend Cam, and things were good.

**Author's Note:**

> Not sure of their actual age in the show, but my headcanon had Cam being 22, kidnapped when he was 2. Hunter is 19, no longer going to school but working full-time at Storm Chargers, Blake and the Winds are 18. 
> 
> Anyway, hope you like!
> 
> edit 5/20: made some small changes


End file.
